Throne Gelt is the name of one of the types of monetary currency in use in the Imperium of Man in the 41st Millennium, though currency of a similar name had been used as far back as the time of the Horus Heresy in some regions of the Imperium.
Throne Gelt often takes the form of metallic coins known as "thrones" that are backed by the fiat value of the local Imperial Tithes collected by the Administratum. Thrones in the 41st Millenium were known to be about the same size as a five Aquila piece, another early form of currency used at the time of the Great Crusade.
Thrones can also be disbursed electronically between personal or business-related accounts usually through the use of a data-slate or other device with an embedded cogitator, though this can leave a data trail that can be tracked by certain Imperial organisations such as the Adeptus Mechanicus or the Inquisition.
History[]
The Imperial currency of the Calixis Sector and many of the surrounding regions in the Segmentum Obscurus such as the Koronus Expanse is known as the "Throne Gelt," a term for currency which stretches all the way back to its first use in the earliest days of the Imperium during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. There are also precious shell tokens or coins of rare, strategic metals that are accepted as legal tender on all of the civilised Imperial worlds of the sector. Thrones can also be dispersed in electronic form as payment, usually by using a data-slate.
One of a number of sector and segmentum-based Imperial currencies whose value directly relates to the Administratum's audits of tithes from the planets in the region where the currency is used, the worth of Throne Gelt is secured against the massive riches generated by Imperial planetary tithes, and is locally issued in the form of coins known as "thrones."
A currency consists of whatever objects are a common unit of exchange in a given locale -- government coinage, ephemeral digital ledger-data, ammunition, gold nuggets, or shells picked from a beach. The currencies of Mankind are as varied as the worlds of the galaxy they inhabit, and are only measured in thrones when it comes time to collect the Imperial Tithe.
Human reavers and pirates across the frontiers of Imperial space are often refugees or descendants of settlers from the Imperium, and so understand Throne Gelt's value. Of course, to these Renegades, offering currency in trade without a display of force or at least a little bloodletting first is a sign of weakness. Yet some Renegades, dark corsairs and slavers among them, favour hacksilver, items of technology, ammunition, and slaves as currency -- or trapped souls and bottled vitality, if the darkest stories are to be believed.
Xenos also have their currencies, though their interpretations of this concept may be remote and strange. The vile Orks, for example, count wealth in "teef" -- literally the teeth of enemy Greenskins kept for noisy, threatening trade with "dem 'ard gits what got the bitz we needz." By comparison, the deceitful Aeldari kindreds do not appear to employ any form of monetary currency at all, and are said to find such Human concepts of valuation primitive or debased. Aeldari do value certain items -- particularly the lost artefacts of their species.
However, attempting trade with Aeldari of any kindred is a harrowing experience, with the negotiations ever treacherous and shifting. Perhaps of all the xenos known to Mankind, the nomadic Stryxis have the most "Human" outlook on trade. Though strange to look on, Stryxis caravans offer an often bewildering variety of goods, many perilous and outright prohibited within Imperial space. However, their inscrutable masters drive a hard bargain, and are never to be underestimated.
Sources[]
- Garro (Novel) by James Swallow, Ch. 5
- Dark Heresy: Core Rulebook (RPG), pg. 124
- Rogue Trader: Core Rulebook (RPG), pg. 113